AC and heating repair in Dripping Springs, TX

The 78620 ZIP code around Dripping Springs, on US 290 at the northwest edge of Hays County, is mostly owner-occupied single-family homes: about 86% owner-occupied and 86% detached (Census ACS 2020–2024). Heat comes from three sources here, not two.

Three kinds of heat

About 62% of households in 78620 heat with electricity, about 18% with natural gas and about 17% with propane. Which one a house has usually depends on whether a gas line reaches the street. Say which one you have early in the call: a propane furnace, a natural gas furnace and a heat pump each need different parts and checks.

A spread of housing ages

The median home in 78620 dates to 2007. About 43% of homes were built in 2010 or later, about 21% in 2000–2009, and about 18% in the 1990s. That spread means calls range from a drain line on a new system to a full replacement on a house that has not changed its equipment in twenty years.

Houses from the 1990s and 2000s are on the original system or their first replacement. Many systems installed before about 2010 run on R-22, which has not been produced since 2020.

Houses from the 2010s run R-410A, and are entering the years when compressors and attic coils start to fail.

Larger houses, longer duct runs

Homes here run larger than in Kyle: the median home in 78620 has 6.8 rooms against 5.8 in Kyle (Census ACS 2020–2024). Larger houses mean two systems or long attic runs to far rooms. A room that never cools is often a duct problem rather than an equipment problem.

Weather

The San Marcos station, the nearest with NOAA 1991–2020 normals, averages about 117 days a year at 90°F or above and about 20 nights at or below 32°F. Dripping Springs sits higher and farther north, so treat those as approximate.

What to tell the dispatcher

• Heat pump, natural gas furnace or propane furnace
• Which system, if there are two, and its install year
• What it is doing, and the thermostat setting and reading
• Your address and ZIP code, and any gate code

Permits and licensing

Dripping Springs runs its own permit office, and much of 78620 is outside city limits. Ask the contractor what applies, and check its TDLR license number before work starts.